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Monday, March 11, 2013

Mercedes AMG Petronas Preview to the F1 Australian Grand Prix 2013

The 2013
Formula One championship gets underway in Melbourne next week with the first
race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, held at the Albert Park circuit
in the city. For MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS, 2013 sees an exciting new driver pairing
with Lewis Hamilton joining the team to partner Nico Rosberg at the wheel of
the Silver Arrows cars.

·The Safety Car has been deployed in six of the last ten races in Melbourne -
including four of the last five

·Mercedes-Benz
power has won four of the past five Australian Grands Prix

·60%
of Australian Grand Prix winners in the past decade have gone on to become World
Champion

Nico Rosberg

Melbourne
is a great place to kick off the new Formula One season. I really like the city
and the Australian fans at the circuit are always fantastic and so supportive.
The first Grand Prix is where everyone finds out where they really are and we
can judge how well we have done against our competition as the times in winter
testing just don’t tell the full story. The weather in Melbourne looks very hot
at the moment which is going to be a tough challenge as we have no experience
with the F1 W04 in those conditions. Tyre degradation will be the biggest issue
for everyone so we need to look at that carefully and do a good job in managing
it. I’m really looking forward to next weekend and getting the season underway.

Lewis Hamilton

It’s the start of a new season and
the beginning of a new adventure for me with MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS. I can’t
wait to get to Melbourne, get out on track and find out where we stand. The Australian
Grand Prix is always an exciting race: the teams don’t know how they compare in
terms of performance, the fans are fantastic and, with big changes to the tyres
again this year, we just don’t know what will happen in the race. I love the
circuit. It’s a street track with a really bumpy surface so you try and put as
much downforce on the car as possible and it really puts the drivers to the
test. We had a good, reliable car during winter testing so that’s the positive
we can take with us into the weekend but we know that in terms of performance,
everything begins again from zero in Friday practice. So let’s get Down Under,
get racing and see how things turn out.

Ross Brawn

The start of a new Formula One
season is always an intense but exciting time for the team. Our factories in
Brackley and Brixworth have been buzzing with activity this week with both Nico
and Lewis visiting to complete their final preparations on the simulator, and
the team working to finish the cars, engines and pack the freight for the four
flyaway races coming up. The first race is where we can really begin to assess
our competitive position and how much of a step forward we have made with our
new Silver Arrow. We had a successful pre-season testing programme and
personally, I am pleased with the progress we have made, both with the car and in
terms of how we operate as a team. However, testing is simply that; racing is a
completely different situation and Melbourne will see much higher track temperatures
and more varied conditions than we have experienced so far. We’re looking
forward to the challenge and to the action starting in Melbourne next weekend.

Toto Wolff

When it comes to starting a new
season, it’s only facts that count - everything else is simply speculation. The
facts are that we had a good winter test programme, completed the second
highest mileage of any team and made some good progress. Lewis and Nico are
working well together and there is a positive dynamic in the team, from the
factory to the track. So we head to Australia well prepared. But we know, too,
that we will be running in very different temperatures, on a different track
surface and that every team will have to finally lay their cards on the table
in qualifying on Saturday. Only then can we have a first indication of where we
stand in terms of performance. It may sound clichéd but our goal is simply to
perform as well as possible. We know that we must go forward from last season
and we are proud to be representing Mercedes-Benz on the global stage. Now we
have to live up to that standard.